To Hell and Back
by beautiful disaster
Summary: A loophole is discovered between Hell and Los Angeles and a deal is made with the devil: A place in Hell for John Constantine's soul.


**A/N:** I'm not an expert on religion, and I've never read Hellblazer, so if some facts of either of these are messed up don't take my head off:) Oh, and, am I spelling Balthazar's name right?  
**DISCLAIMER:** I don't own Constantine, Hellblazer or any of the characters in it.

* * *

The silouette of a man casually walked down the dirty streets of Los Angeles. It was a courter past midnight and John Constantine was wide awake. He needed sleep, he needed peace, but most of all, he needed a cigarette.

He turned on his heel right into a local drugstore. Walking inside, he immediately sensed something was wrong. His intuition proved him right as he noticed the men on either side of the counter. On the customer side, a nervous teenager stood, eyes shifting back and fourth, from the clerk to John. No doubt the place was being robbed. John wasn't the type to play superhero so he stepped up and paid for a fresh pack of cigarettes, keeping a weary eye on the young thief. He was nothing more then a kid, he couldn't have any older than seventeen.

"Thanks." John managed, tearing himself away from the clerk's pleading eyes. The extra strength to move on felt weak. He wasn't even half way out the door before he slid a cigarette from the pack and into his mouth.

He crept out, the icy breeze causing his blazer to fly wildly. Looking around, he noticed he was the only soul on the streets. Those alleyways and streetlights had seen John's best days, before he had given up all hope. He sighed, it was going to be a long night. John waited a moment for the breeze to have its way before lighting his zippo lighter. As the flame lit the end of his cigarette, a constant stream of smoke slinkily emerged from it, and John took a long drag, allowing the poison to seep into his lungs. He already felt calmer, just having the cigarettes in his posession. _And I actually thought about quitting_ He joked to himself.

Suddenly, a voice came from beside him.

"How very courageous of you, John."

Gabriel.

"The hell are you doing here?" John asked coldly, looking to his right. A part of him was still a little bit suprised. True, Gabriel had previously been a half-breed, but once she became human, John had honestly thought she would have been dead by now.

"Nice to see you too," She paused, "You're looking well...I see you're steering clear of lung cancer."

John did not reply, instead he took another drag from his cigarette, and exhaled the smoke in Gabriel's direction. Gabriel disregarded this, and continued.

"You've just been blessed with a clean slate...a life. A chance to finally prove, again, to God Himself that you are worthy of his kingdom, and yet you continue to dirty it up again."

"How so?" John asked bitterly, taking another drag from his cigarette.

"The robbery, John? You could have easily stopped it from happening."

"I send demons to Hell, not humans." He reminded, keeping his eyes off Gabriel, his voice sounding hoarse. "And as I recall, your wings were clipped. So tell me, Gabriel, what exactly are you doing here?" John spat, irritated. He hated Gabriel's "angelic advice."

"What? One human being can't have a casual chat with another on a beautiful night like this?"

"You're still not human in my books." John retorted, blowing more smoke into the night air.

At this, Gabriel put her hands on her hips, as a stubborn child would.

"He's not giving up on you, you know." She loved when she knew more information then he did, and this particular time made her want to laugh out-loud.

"Who?" John asked, already knowing the answer.

"Who do you think? Do you really think Satan is going to wait another 60 or so years for you to _maybe_ screw up so you can die and go to Hell?" Gabriel asked, laughing at the absurdity of it.

John hadn't thought about that yet. He hadn't wanted to.

Gabriel crossed her arms.

"Balthazar sends his regards-"

"Balthazar is dead!" John yelled. He'd had it with all this bull shit. Couldn't there just be laws that the dead would stay dead?

"He's been ressurected, John." Gabriel said simply.

John grabbed Gabriel's arm and pulled her to him so they were face to face, eye to eye.

"By who?" He snarled.

"Hey, don't get mad at me, I'm just the messenger!"

John glared at her, "I don't trust you," he hissed, sharply letting go, sending her to stumble backwards.

Gabriel dusted herself off.

"John, John, John..." She sighed, placing her hand behind his head, looking directly into his eyes. "Don't say I didn't warn you."

Suddenly as Gabriel smiled, her eyes began to glow fiercely, and before John knew it, she was miraculously gone.

John stood for a moment, staring at the deserted street that lay before him.

Somehow, Gabriel was no longer a human.


End file.
